Steam RWBY
by Guyshane
Summary: Steampunk AU. Ruby has gone missing, Yang leaves to find her but something else is going on. Hopefully there will be some romance later on. Yang's POV
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: Hello people of the interwebs. I'm Guyshane and this is my first fanfic. In light of this I'd like to thank you for taking the time out of you're day to read this. I am receptive to criticism so long as said criticism is cordial. I hope to keep this fic going for a good long while. Without any further ado, on with the show:

The blonde stood over the still form of her opponent.

Then she yawned.

"Well Junior this has been fun and all but I kinda have to get going." Yang said to the unconscious crime boss. Junior let out a slight moan. Yang nodded cheerfully, a smile on her face. "I'm glad you understand." she chirped before walking towards her steamcycle.

Yang bent down and began to prep the engine her bike. When she heard someone clearing their throat from behind her. She turned around to see a messenger, a lean faunas girl with cat ears. "Hellllooo" Yang trilled, sadly the other girl did not appear amused.

"Are you Yang Xiao Long?" she asked wearily.

"That'd be me, what can I do for ya?"

The messenger nodded and began rummaging around in her bag. "I have a telegram for you, According to the orders it was supposed to be rushed to you, suppose its some big deal or such," She paused to look at the steamcycle. "Although I don't know why they would risk sending this to you if you ride around on something as dangerous as that."

Yang put a hand to her chest and gasped in mock anger. "Dangerous?" she said in a scandalized whisper. "My little Bumblebee? Never! Besides, steamcycles are as safe as anything else so long as they don't overheat or anything." she explained in a normal tone of voice.

The courier looked over at the blasted remains of the bar, some parts of which were still on fire.

"Mm-hmm."

"You can't prove I did that."

"Right..." the girl responded rolling her eyes before handing the telegram over to the huntress. "Well it has been nice talking with you Miss Xiao Long but I really must be going."

"Alright, thank you for the message!"Yang said as the other woman turned and left. _Now lets see what the big deal is. _Yang thought to herself, her heart froze as she read the message

**Ruby MIA for three weeks STOP**

**Permission for you to search granted STOP**

**No one else available at this time STOP**

**-Ozpin**

Yang quickly stowed the note in her jacket before getting her bike started and heading home at full speed, almost crashing several times as she did so.

Ruby had gone out on a long range patrol with a couple of other hunters a while back. However a week after they left the other two hunters had stumbled back muttering something about shadows in the forest attacking them. Yang had grilled them for information but ultimately all she had gotten out of them was that they couldn't clearly see the attackers, Ruby had gotten separated and a reprimand from Ozpin for bothering the two during their recovery. She had asked to go looking for Ruby and had been denied.

_Something must have changed if he decided to allow me to go all of the sudden._

Yang parked her bike and took the steps up to her apartment two at a time. Throwing open the door she stormed into her room and began throwing clothes and supplies in her bag haphazardly before putting on her standard patrol attire: An open brown jacket over a yellow shirt with heavy black pants and an orange scarf. Finally she buckled a gunbelt around her waist and pulled on a pair of golden colored gauntlets before grabbing her pack and heading to the train station.

Yang walked towards the train, ticket in hand. She was headed to one of Vale's hunter outposts which was closer to the area where Ruby had gone missing.

_This ticket is gonna eat up most of my money, really they don't pay me enough. Maybe after I save Ruby I can talk to Ozpin about a raise. Not for saving sis or anything, just in I wonder what could be holding her up? I hope she didn't attack a Deathstalker by herself, again._

Yang had been so wrapped up in her thoughts she didn't even notice the man in front of her until she bumped into him and knocked him over.

"Oh! I'm so sorry" Yang said, her face turning red. She immediately pulled the man to his feet and began dusting him off. "I was wrapped up in my thoughts. Didn't mean to knock you over."

"No, no its quite alright Yellow." He said as he straightened his white coat and made sure his Red hair was still slicked back. He grabbed his cane off the ground. "Just in the future, please pay more attention to where you're walking." Turning to a group of men who were inching in on the tow he said:" Back off, boys. Just a misunderstanding, nothing to worry about." Then he began to walk off.

"Have a nice day, sir"

"You too miss."

_What a nice guy, its a rare kind of person who'll just shrug that off. _Yang thought to herself happily, walking to her cabin on the train with an extra bounce in her step.

Nearby Torchwick and his men were watching the blonde woman as she got on the train.

"You sure?"

"Yes, Mr. Torchwick. That's definitely the girl who took down the boss earlier."

"Will she cause us any trouble?"

"I think so Mr. Torchwick."

Roman took a long draw of his cigar before breathing out. "Well I certainly didn't bring you along for your intelligence." He whirled jabbing the end of his cane into the thug's chest. "For example, Stop using my real name. Are you trying to get us all caught?"

The thug was visibly sweating. "No, sir. I'm sorry, sir."

Roman nodded and pulled back, placing the tip of his cane back on the ground. "Well regardless, I certainly can't take the risk. We'll ambush her tonight when she's sleeping."

Caught up in their conversation none of them noticed a nearby shadow detach from the wall and slip away.

Yang had spent the first hour or two of the train ride pacing the cabin. The train ride was more convenient than traveling on foot but Yang had never been particularity good dealing with inactivity, Ruby had always told her that she should just read but books had never effectively held Yang's attention.

After a while she had resorted to shadow boxing to keep herself preoccupied. Arms burning from the exertion Yang lowered her fists. _Probably a good time for a break, I can get some food and do something else. I don't know what else but something else. _At that moment the train shook going over a rough portion of the track spilling a sheaf of papers Yang had put in her bag. The huntress slapped her palm against her forehead.

_Right! Activity reports. How did I forget about those?_ Sighing dramatically Yang bent over to gather and organize the papers. Looking at the stack Yang decided it could wait until after dinner.

_Okay this is weird, that area was actually experiencing a lack of Grimm activity? Then why were Ruby and the others sent there? They really should have been sent to a high concentration area._Yang shook her head. _Well I'm not going to solve any mysteries tonight and I'm certainly not going to solve them from this train._

Her mind made up Yang put away the reports, got into her night clothes, pulled down the bed and climbed in. She had just gotten comfortable and was ready to drift off to sleep when someone knocked several times on her door in rapid succession. Yang groaned and rolled out of bed. Throwing open the door she looked around outside only to see a door down the hall closing as she came out.

_Well that's not suspicious at all. _The blonde thought to herself. Creeping down the hall she spoke quietly. "Look I don't know who you are or why you wanna mess with me but its really not all that smart. I'm a huntress and I've fought things much worse than whoever you are."

Arriving at the door she threw it open only to find the room empty. Going inside the normally loud girl began investigating looking for a clue as to what was going on. _Nothing? This day just gets weirder by the minute and I haven't even gotten to where I need to go yet._

Then Yang heard voices down the hall.

"Now you're sure this is her room?"

"Yes, sir. One of our guys followed her here."

"One of you was actually stealthy? It's a Winter festival miracle five months too early."

_That voice sounds...familiar._ Yang thought, her eyes narrowing in concentration. _Where have I...Wait! That's the guy from earlier. Well this is great, apparently he isn't as nice as I thought. Still, _She smiled to herself. _It would be quite rude of me to keep them waiting for long._

Opening the door the huntress stalked quietly towards her prey

Torchwick tapped his foot impatiently as the hired muscles searched the blonde woman's room. After the search was done the assembled gangsters stood in front of him.

"So, what did you find?" he asked.

"She hasn't left the train, all her stuff is still in the room." The lead thug replied.

Roman glanced meaningfully at the scenery which was still passing by at a high speed. "Shocking deduction, Your brilliant investigation is surely the only way I could've of found that out." his response dripping sarcasm all over the floor.

"Well...I-" Before the thug could finish his reply the gangster at the back of the group was picked up off his feet and tossed the whole length of the hall behind. Turning back to the group of criminals Yang cracked her neck, grinned and said: "You know guys, if you wanted my autograph, all you had to do was ask."

Roman rolled his eyes at the thugs frozen in fear. "Well? What are you waiting for. You all said he was a horrible fighter anyway. So take her out."

Turning to face Yang the thugs rushed her, axes drawn. Yang kicked the legs of the first thug out from under him but before he could fall she grabbed him and hauled him back to his feet before finishing him off with a right cross. The next one up received an elbow to his throat, taking him out of the fight immediately. Yang kept moving, redirecting the next man's axe into the wall before driving a knee into his gut and elbow dropping onto his back. The final thug got a punch in the gut before Yang placed the underside of her arm against his throat and preformed a hip throw.

As Roman's last man fell he muttered "Impossible to find good help these days." Looking at Yang he spoke again. "Well, Yellow. I think its been an eventful evening. Unfortunately," He raised his cane and pointed the tip at Yang, she stiffened as she realized that there was a shotgun barrel concealed inside the wood. "Its time for you to die."

_Crap! What do I do? Even with my aura I'm not sure I can survive that at this range. Have to get as far away as I can._

Then several things happened at once. Yang jumped backwards and pushed her aura to the front of her body, hoping to at least save herself from the first shot. Torchwick pulled the trigger on his weapon, but was forced to dodge to the side as several objects came flying out of the the darkness at him. This threw off his aim and the round blasted a hole in the floor of the car, only grazing Yang's leg.

Torchwick recovered but the shotgun blast had clearly awakened the other passengers since he could hear them moving around.

"Damn," he muttered. "Another time, Yellow" he said before disappearing through a nearby door.

Yang, still shaking from adrenaline walked over to the wall that the crook had been standing in front of to examine several small objects embedded in the wall. Pulling one out she held it up to the light to examine it. _A shuriken?_

Yang hid the throwing star behind her back as the door at the opposite end of the hall opened. One of the staff stepped in and took note of the scene before looking at the huntress and asking: "What happened?"

She sighed.

"Its a long story."


	2. Explanations and Explosions

**Authors note: Hooray! Some of you actually like the first chapter. I take that as an immense vote of confidence and move on to the second. Once again I appreciate any critique so long as it is polite. Also since it is the season, HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE! And now, on with the show.**

Chapter 2: Explanations and Explosions

Yang rolled over in her bed at the outpost.

_Geez this sucks so damn much. _Yang thought to herself. _I mean yea, checking my story and all but come on! This isn't helping anything all they're doing is delaying me!_

Yang leaped to her feet and began pacing back and forth through her room. She stopped, cracked her knuckles, began moving again, stopped, picked up a ball and threw it, burying the toy in the wall.

Groaning, Yang threw herself down on the cot again. These hunters had been not holding but "encouraging" her to stay while they continued her investigation.

_Three days ago..._

Yang stepped off the train. The whole incident earlier had been exciting but once she had told the security on the train what had happened she had been upgraded to a nicer room and had nothing to do for the rest of the trip.

Well at least nothing nearly as fun as the fight.

But now that was all behind her, she was going to stop and eat before heading right towards her sister. That was of course until the other huntress had come up with two huntsmen flanking her and threw a wrench in the whole plan. She planted herself right in front of Yang and glared at the younger woman.

"You are the one who had an encounter with Roman Torchwick on the train?" she asked sternly.

Yang cocked her head to the side in confusion. "Umm...maybe? He didn't exactly give his name before he tried to shoot me." She shrugged. "Look I'm in a bit of a rush, can we move this along...something like that?"

"No."

"Oh come on! Look I have to go, I'm looking for my sister. I'm sorry this guy is causing you problems Miss..."

"Goodwitch, I am huntress Goodwitch." Goodwitch took a step closer to Yang, "And I am sorry your sister is missing but quite frankly that is not my concern, I'm tracking Torchwick and you will tell me everything you know. Sooner rather than later."

Yang instead of backing down from Glynda's advance merely snorted before asking: "What are you gonna do? Arrest me? Ozpin won't be very happy about that."

Goodwitch glared some more. "If he has a problem with my methods he can send someone else to look for Torchwick. Regardless, I won't arrest you. I'm just going to demand you not leave until this lead from you either pays off or turns out to be a dead end."

Yang went pale as she desperately tried to form a coherent thought. "But-but...T-that could takes weeks, especially if this guy worries you enough to do this."

"Yes" Goodwitch responded, nodding primly.

Yang felt her heart rate spike, suddenly it felt overly warm in the station, people who had stopped to watch the confrontation started backing up. However before the fight could start, Yang felt a solid, powerful strike fall against the back of her head

Yang blinked away the darkness and looked at her surroundings. It was a simple room with a desk that had the intelligence reports she had been given along with a few other objects. As Yang pushed herself up from the bed she started to remember her encounter with the other hunters.

Then the door swung open and Goodwitch strode in. "Good morning, Miss Xiao Long. I trust you have no problems with your bed. Now why don't we talk about Roman?"

Yang crossed her arms and glared at the other woman. _Pah! As if I'd tell you anything. I dont have time for this I have to go look for Ruby._

Glynda seeming to read Yang's mind stood and turned to leave. "Fine then, I suppose I'll have to come back later when you are a bit more willing to assist. I have time." She began to turn the handle.

"Wait!"

Goodwitch turned to see Yang hand outstretched. Something that vaguely resembled a grin played over the older woman's face. "Yes?"

Yang blew out an irritated breathe before beginning. "I first saw him at the train stop in Vale..."

_Present day..._

_I can not believe this girl! Sure she needed a little help with that mess on the train but she was ready to pick a fight with three of her comrades! And now shes stuck inside that complex where she isnt of any good to me._

Blake quickly tied a cloth over her mouth before pulling her hood up over her head. It looked like it was up to her to distract the hunters, get Yang's equipment and free the blond huntress.

The faunas girl might have been worried if she hadn't done harder jobs before.

Slinking into the shadows of the night Blake followed along the outer wall until she reached a point where it connected to the main complex. After scanning the building and finding a target she pulled her grapple gun from it's holster, pointed and fired.

Her breathe hitched as the grapple hooked on and pulled her up in a sudden surge of motion.

_Well I suppose its good to know that actually works, good first test. _The freelancer took a moment to catch her breathe before sliding along the wall to a window. She took a minute to look inside and make sure that there were neither guards nor bystanders before cutting a small hole in the window and letting herself into the building.

_Lets see, the armory would probably be near the bottom if not underground so as not to be destroyed easily if they came under fire. I'll probably have to do a bit more looking to find where they're keeping Blondie. _

Her mind made up Blake headed deeper into the base dodging guards and staff as she did so. Eventually she found an iron door with two hunters standing in front of it. She was about to take them down when one of them started talking.

"So what was up with all that gear that came in earlier?"

"Oh you haven't heard? Goodwitch brought in another huntress and is keeping her here, I think she thinks if we keep the gear the new girl is less likely to just run off."

"So Gylnda just dragged the girl here?"

"Way I heard it some bystander knocked the girl out, was worried about the fight or somethin' "

Under her mask Blake felt herself blush. She hadn't wanted to do it , but what choice had she had? _It isn't like she gave me another choice, I certainly don't regret it at all_ The brunette thought to herself.

_Well...maybe a little._

Shaking her head and organizing her thoughts, Blake moved. Her first act was to throw a small stone down one side of the hall, catching the attention of the hunter on the right. As he walked down the hall Blake used her Semblance to appear behind his compatriot, quickly choking him unconscious. She then lowered him to the ground before quickly and quietly chasing the first hunter and knocking him out before dragging to two inside an empty storage room.

Using the key she had taken off the guard Blake let herself into the armory and after a brief search found Yang's equipment. On her way out of the room she noticed a small glass case on the wall.

_Now what have we her-Dust! Oh this is going to come in very handy. _Blake smiled at the thought.

Yang was back on her bunk again, trying to count sheep and get to sleep.

However she was so angry at this point that all she really wanted to do was punch the sheep and have their delicious lamb-chops for a midnight snack.

_GAAHH! This is so damn frustrating! I don't even know what I should do anymore! How the hell am I supposed to help Ruby from inside THIS DAMN ROOM?!_

Without even thinking Yang had jumped up from her bed and dashed across the short room, punching a nearby wall, her fist covered in tiny flames.

That was when there were several tiny explosions which sent a spiderweb of cracks through the wall.

_Crap, crap, crap, CRAP, CRAP! How am I supposed to explain this? I didn't mean to break the wall!_

The wall fell away to reveal a figure with glowing eyes standing silhouetted against the moonlight. The woman stepped forward and Yang got a good view of her. The intruder was dressed in grey pants, dark shoes and a shirt that may have once been white. Over her chest there was a battle harass that held two short swords and an odd pistol. However her yellow eyes were by far her most arresting feature as well as the only part of her face visible behind her scarf and hood.

The other woman took a step towards Yang and shoved something heavy into the blonde's arms. "Get ready," she commanded. "I'll keep watch, and then you should run." Then she turned away from the huntress.

Looking inside the bag Yang found all of her equipment and supplies that had been confiscated. Grinning to herself Yang quickly pulled out a change of clothes and slipped it on before arming herself and slinging her bag over her shoulders. Looking back at her savior she asked: "So what do we do now?"

The stranger turned and Yang could just make out the raised eyebrow in the moonlight. "Who said anything about us?" the freelancer responded before walking to the hole in the wall and pulling out her odd gun."Your sister went west from here." she added before swinging away into the night.

Yang stood in indecision for a moment. It wasn't exactly an easy choice, Yang knew running might put her in danger from multiple angles but how often did a a mysterious woman break you out and give you the first clue.

Yang bit her lip as she looked at the hole in the wall. _Decisions, decisions. _Looking back at the room Yang reached her conclusion. Taking a running start Yang leaped through the hole and when she hit the ground began her mad dash to the forest to the west.

About an hour or two later Yang sat down and put her back against a nearby tree, panting. It had taken some quick thinking and a long run but eventually she had lost her pursuers from the outpost.

"Well, that was a fun night." Se said aloud to herself, panting. "I don't think," She yawned. "A little nap would hurt." she murmured as her eyelids flickered and closed.

From the branches of the nearby trees Blake stared at the girl in irritation. _Really, Xiao Long? Really? It isn't enough that I've saved you and broke you out of jail. Now you fall asleep in the middle of the forest. _Blake ground her teeth as her train of thought continued. _Fine, sure. I'm leaving you here. _Blake began to leave passing the sleeping huntress as she did so. However before she could leave the other girl behind, Blake paused. _Dammit._ Blake quickly went over to Yang and took her up into the tree branches, securing the blonde so she wouldn't roll out in her sleep.

Dropping down to the ground Blake walked away, dropping a torn piece of red cloth behind her as she did so.

Roman looked around the section of the forest where he was supposed to be meeting his contact. It was dreary and muddy. The criminal glared at the shadows surrounding him.

"Really, what is the point of making me wait? I'm not going to be intimidated by you mutts and I know you're here. So why don't we move this meeting along?"

Out of the shadows a White Fang foot soldier stepped out. "We should kill you right now, I don't like working with a stinking human."

Torchwick smirked. "Well its a shame that your boss wants me alive. Also you guys are woefully incompetent, so I kind of doubt you would win."

The soldier growled in response.

Roman rolled his eyes. "Look, its fact. If you all were good at your jobs then I wouldn't be here. I've already given you the means and now you need me again for the method. Now lets quit wasting time and get moving."


End file.
